FM #63 - Week Ending 4/4/10

This internet radio show or podcast is number 63 in the series for Franklin Matters.

Let's take about 10 minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as the week ends Sunday April 4th.

In this session I cover the Financial Planning Committee meeting that occurred March 31 and look ahead to the Town Council meeting on April 7th.

You should recall that the Financial Planning Committee is the one chartered as a subcommittee of the Town Council to put together the long term or five year financial plan for Franklin. The committee prepared their first report last year.

The group is focused on updating the report with current numbers. They are concerned about showing where the numbers have changed, and why, against the baseline forecast. The forecast for this year is remarkably close to where we were predicted to be overall.

They also need to review the proposed action items and show what progress has been made on them. While much progress has been made (I'll leave it to the report to provide the details), the financial situation still requires action. The choice is to continue to cut services or raise taxes to maintain the level of service we have reached.

I know the “o” word is very sensitive but there should be a discussion about our priorities. There should also be a choice provided to the voters.

The Town Council meeting on April 7th will be a good one on a number of fronts.

1 – Rep Vallee and Sen Spilka are scheduled to provide a legislative update on the Chapter 70 and other state aid coming to Franklin.

2 – Jeff Nutting should have the opportunity to provide an update on what this means for the overall Town Budget. As you may recall, the School budget proposed to increase 2.2 M. Technically, they can't call it a “level service” budget as they are adding back the late bus. Word has it that they should be looking more at a level funded budget at best.

3 – Wording on the Charter changes has been finalized so now the Council will get to discuss it again before deciding to send it forward or not. If it does go to the legislature, the charter changes still will come back to Franklin for the registered voters to have a vote and accept or reject.

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission